Welcome to upside

A crowd of more than 300 UPS employees and guests welcomed President Barack Obama to the Landover, Md. UPS facility on Friday, April 1.

President Obama opened his speech joking to the crowd why he and members of his Cabinet were there, “I am thrilled to be here, proud to be joined here today by two of our outstanding Cabinet Secretaries, Steven Chu and Ray LaHood. We’re here today for a simple reason: Ray wasn’t home when they tried to deliver a package yesterday – so we thought we’d just grab it and be on our way.”

Of course, they weren’t there to pick up a package. President Obama came to announce the National Clean Fleets Partnership, of which UPS is a charter member along with FedEx, Pepsi-Frito Lay, Verizon, and AT&T. According to the President, it is “a partnership that will help reduce our dependence on oil that will protect our planet, and will spur economic growth.”

Chairman and CEO Scott Davis told those in attendance, “I am honored to be here with all of you and to open our doors to a President with a vision for securing our energy future.” UPS was chosen to host the President because of its strong dedication to sustainability, from the introduction of its first electric vehicles in 1935, to our alternative fuel fleet’s recent milestone of 200 million miles traveled since 2000.

In July 2010, Scott was named to the President’s Export Council. As the top advisory committee on global trade, the President’s Export Council advises the President on government policies and programs that affect U.S. trade performance, while also providing a forum for discussing and resolving trade-related problems among businesses, industrial, agricultural, labor and government sectors.

The Attorney General of Maryland Doug Gansler and U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (MD) were also in attendance. UPS was represented by President of U.S. Operations Myron Gray, District Manager Rosemary Turner, and Chief Sustainability Officer Scott Wicker.